America's latest mass shooting, at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, has claimed the lives of 19 children and two adults. The 18-year-old gunman legally purchased two AR-15-style rifles before the attack, thus catapulting conversations about gun control and regulation to the forefront for Second Amendment defenders and gun control advocates. Here is what some gun owners across the U.S. are saying. 

Hilary Hellwig, a 34-year-old hairdresser from Souderton, Pa., comes from a family of hunters and military veterans. Her father took her to buy her first gun for self-protection when she turned 21, Hellwig told NPR, but she believes she should have been carrying a weapon earlier than 21.

"The world is a crazy place, and I always felt safe knowing I could protect myself as a young woman — pepper spray can only get you so far," Hellwig said. "I believe[d] then and I believe now we have the right to bear arms and that should never change."

When asked whether she thinks the shooting in Uvalde should serve as a turning point for gun control, Hellwig said no: "People will always find a way to harm one another if they really want to." Her views on gun control haven't changed after the shootings in Buffalo, N.Y., and Texas.

Instead of stricter gun laws, she believes teachers should be allowed to carry firearms to protect themselves and their students should the need arise. She believes that attackers would be dissuaded if they knew teachers weren't defenseless targets.

"Stop making school such an easy target," she said.

She remembers when she was a student at Temple University in Philadelphia, where she would receive notifications on her phone about students getting attacked in the area every other week, she said.

"It's about how guns can protect and make us feel safe," Hellwig said. "I know it would [have] made me feel safer if I was carrying or I knew my teachers were as well."